Sunday, September 05, 2010

Do you tip a drug dealer?

I have no idea... but I did tip my grilled cheese sandwich dealer who showed up on a random street corner with a perfectly cooked grilled cheese sandwich in his man bag. Really! Okay, here's the story...

A few weeks ago, the New York Post ran a story about Mr. Bread Butter Cheese, who has started a mini grilled cheese empire by making sandwiches in his apartment for people who text him orders. His business has grow from a few friends to a following so large that he had to take his number off of his Facebook page. I was lucky enough to get a hold of the number, and took it for a spin on Monday.

I texted at noon to ask if I could get a sandwich at 6pm. Sure thing, he texted right back. "I'm making pepper jack and bacon today. Sound good?" Since text is no place to explain my complicated relationship with bacon, I decided to ask for a veggie option-- cheddar and jalapeno it was! He told me which corner to be at and the deal was in the works.

He texted again at 10 minutes to six to make sure I was going to show up. OF COURSE! "But how will I know you," he asked. I texted a brief description of myself and the deal was set. The appointed street corner has a gas station on it. Not exactly the dark alley I was envisioning but whatever. I saw a guy on a skateboard approaching. Was this him? My grilled cheese delivered on a skateboard? Rad! No, the skateboard scooted by. But before too long, a guy in sunglasses carrying a black messenger bag approached and asked if I wanted a sandwich. Um, YEA!

Mr. BBC was incredibly nice and seemed quite excited about his growing empire. He promised to remember that I am veg and I promised to text again soon. He said the sandwich would reheat nicely in about 5 minutes in the oven. But there was no way I was going to wait that long. I high tailed it to a park and unwrapped the cheesy goodness! As the "low bluesy tone of a saxophone" played nearby and skateboarders took a break on the step next to me, I dug in! A true New York adventure!

The sandwich was wonderful! The bread is white and slightly thicker than your average store bought slice. It is nicely buttered and browned. The cheese was a flavorful white cheddar that had melted lovingly around the peppers, which had a kick but weren't spicy.

And of course, in a city of over 8 million people, who walked by as I was stuffing my face... an intern from work. What was I doing? Where do I begin?

If food trucks were 2010, home cooked specialties must be 2011. A guy was doing the same thing with lobster rolls...until the DOH shut him down. Bummer! Unfortunately Mr. BBC is running the same risk. I hope the city doesn't catch up with him anytime soon. With grilled cheese that good, he's got to be running a safe operation, right!? Got to be cleaner than those yucky restaurant basements, whose open door you're liable to fall down as you walk on any sidewalk in the city!

Ha, well I suppose his operation could be a little shady, but my thoughts are:1. his kitchen can't be any smaller than mine2. as this is essentially an invention of social media, if someone had gotten sick, there would have been a Facebook movement to shut him down.3. DOH recently started giving restaurants letter ratings. The good ones are posting A's in their window. I've seen some A's but lots of restaurants without any ratings in their window, which can't be good. Mr BBC can't be that bad!